Desultory
by Lokelani87
Summary: des·ul·to·ry. adj. desultorious Latin , "relating to a jumper" Definition: digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random. info summary inside. please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Involves Griffin. That enough to keep the fangirls? (it'd keep me, for sure.) Oh, and it's not slash. -doors slam as most of fanbase leave abruptly- but it's not OC/Griffin either...

**A/N:** My gosh, I'm alive?! This is crazy. Sorry for the lack of updates on anything, people, not only have I lacked inspiration, school is taking a ton of time outta my life. Thank goodness summer is coming soon, now I just have to get my license…

Anyway, this here is a movie!Jumper fanfic. (orly?) And, unless I truly get reviews galore or more motivation, the odds of updates are slim. But wait! Stay and read it through, it won't take long, really..!

**Disclaimer:** I own the un-Original.

* * *

It started with FanFiction dot net. Arianna Jones had been reading a horrible fic; disastrous grammar, choppy story line, and the writer didn't even understand bits of the characters themselves. She had just finished the first chapter (which was only about four five sentence paragraphs) and knew that this particular fanfic was not worth it. With an annoyed sigh she hit the back button on her browser.

That was when her room, for lack of better terms, exploded. Discarded paper fluttered down, a large crack snaked across her mirror. Seven years bad luck, she thought her mind in shock. The rug on her floor was slightly torn, the armchair in the corner ripped. The sudden pressure left her staring wide eyed at the middle of her room, her hands still poised over the tablet she had been using as a mouse. There stood a guy, who with a quick, stunned glance at her, disappeared. Had she blinked- which seemed at the moment physically impossible- she would have missed him.

A moment passed, then she leapt up from her desk and tried to edge around the room, not taking her eyes off the spot that had previously wrecked her room. There seemed to be something there: smudging the area behind it where her dresser had a drawer hanging askew. Suddenly, her foot hit something. Her flute case's hinge digging into her foot, the case slipped on the rug and with a small squeak she startled forward.

But instead of her foot gaining balance in her room, she felt everything spin. The air was ripped from her lungs and she struggled to breathe. In only a moment, the air rushed back in and she hit the ground with a smack, almost certainly skinning her elbows. Cool air settled on her bare shoulders: she was only in a black spaghetti-strap shirt with her navy white-moon-and-star pajama pants.

With a groan, she sat up to find the guy, the one who popped up in her room, gaping at her. He ran a hand through his ruffled brown hair and began to glare.

"You're a Jumper?" he exclaimed in a British accent. With a quick step backward, he started to pull papers and photographs from off a worn desk and some posted on the wall. "You can't be here. Leave, now." He stuffed the papers into a box, then he was gone.

Ari looked about wonderingly, what had just happened? She was in an enclosed room, papers pinned on the dank walls, the space crowded by the desk, a worn couch, and a TV perched on a box. On the wall opposite her was a tattered map with blue and red circles dotting it. Shaking slightly, she stood to get a better look. Then he was there, right in her face as she reeled back in astonishment.

"You think I'm joking?" He started in on her and she backed up to hit a wall; in the corner no less. "Jump back to wherever you came from: forget this place."

"What are you talking about? How did I even get here? Who _are _you?" The questions spilled out as her confusion mounted and a slight case 'o-m-g panic' settled in. "What's Jumping? Is that teleporting? I can't teleport..!" Her babbling was cut short by his glare mixed with confusion.

"Only Jumpers…" he stopped and Ari looked at him curiously. "What's your name? How did you get here?"

"Um…" 'Don't talk to strangers', the one rule beaten into her since childhood, blocked her name from her lips. Although there wasn't much choice… "Anna," she said, pronouncing it like 'awna', and instantly winced. It was the truth, but she _hated _being called Anna. "And I tripped into your portal-thing-y." Oh yes, she thought to herself, that was very eloquent. "So, I don't suppose you could, uh, teleport me back?" As 'fun' and 'exciting' as this little experience was, she did not want to get stuck in a small room with a guy who had the capabilities of being a psycho.

"Can't. Didn't get a good look at your room. 'Fraid I'll have to stick you back somewhere close. Where do you live?" The guy leaned against the wall to his left and studied her inquiringly, but also angrily.

"Arizona." Vague, but informing. Lets see what he says to _that. _

"Ugh, another American," He groaned to himself. The last one had not been on his A-list since the even-though-I-helped-you-lets-leave-me-in-the-power-lines incident. Oh well, who cares? He'll drop her off and be gone in less then a minute. "I know the Grand Canyon. Let's g-,"

"You can't ditch me in the Grand Canyon! That's like six hours away from my house! By _car..!_ It'll take me ages to get home!" Not to mention her directional skills were as great as a rock. No wait, they had the moss-pointing-north thing going for them… Well she knew that the sun rises in the east, sets in the west fact…But that didn't help, she still would know which direction to…Ari shook her head to disperse her tangent-prone thoughts and returned to gaze hopefully at the guy…who's name she didn't know yet. "What's your name?" She blurted out right when he looked like he was going to tell her off.

"Griffin, alright? Now will you please leave?" He looked at her exasperated. She had to be a Jumper, there was no other way to follow a Jump scar.

"I can't; I don't have wicked-sweet powers like you." She said dryly with a slight roll of her eyes. Griffin sure did not seem to get the concept of she was normal. …Semi-normal; as normal as a weird teenage girl got, anyway.

"Then where do I put you?"

"Look, I don't know. Are you saying I'm stuck here in…Genovia? That place is real?" Ari had read the map on the wall and guessed as to whether that was where they were or not. He obviously didn't know that the map stated where it was clearly because he stared at her, startled by her knowledge. "Dude. Map."

He turned, then laughed. "Shoulda thought of that one."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Ooooh, wow. 4 years, it's been. And believe it or not, this chapter has been sitting on my hard drive for 4 years as well..

Well, I figured, since I had it, why not post it, am I right? Who knows, maybe I'll write up an end for it.. (Best not to hold your breath on that one.) Do I still have active people for this to alert? Hahaha..

Let's continue this then, shall we?

* * *

So as it turned out, Genovia really _was _a real place, and at the moment, Ari (who was being known as Anna) was stranded there because she did not want to hitch from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix. Some would say she was being immature about this; be independent, get back home. She said no.

Despite her calm about the fact that was just teleported miles away from her house, she was a tad excited to have had the perfect excuse. Her parents had left for a week on a business trip, one of the few times her mother had to accompany her father (for support and whatnot). The thing was they thought she was at a friend's house like both of her brothers.

What they didn't know was her friend's family had to leave the state for an emergency and Ari had opted to stay home. She could take care of herself, and her parents would never know. (She just had to say she arrived home earlier than them the same day.) Then again, she hadn't really counted on a strange guy to destroy her room via teleportation …then accidently fall through the portal (Griffin snapped at her for calling it that. It was a _Jump scar,_ he had snarled.) and end up in his place, the Jump scar already dissolved.

At the moment she was sitting on his worn couch, legs drawn up, wondering whether or not she was dreaming. That was when she spied the PS3 sitting, glistening under his old TV, the wireless controller discarded to the side. With a small, smug little grin, she slid forward and retrieved the controller and proceeded to snap on the TV.

When Griffin, who had gone out for Chinese food (which she assumed was _actual _Chinese food) arrived back, only gone for ten minutes because of a particularly long line, he found her pounding away at the controller, shooting and exploding various people and things.

"Who said you could play that?" He exclaimed annoyed, still baffled on how she got here when she continually claimed to not be a Jumper. She spared him an irritated glance then blew up a tank.

"Who said I couldn't, O magical one?" she countered, saving the game and shutting the console off. "Honestly, you left me here alone; what did you expect?" she said not un-kindly.

"You really need to go," Griffin said, probably for the thousandth time since she arrived an hour ago.

"We're in Genovia, right? And the closest to my home you can get is a quarter of a day away? I'm not only broke from lack a preparation," she gestured at her pj's, "I don't have a passport to take a plane. I do not want to travel across the state like this, thank you very much."

Griffin glared at her, wishing she would just shut up and leave. The problem was she wouldn't leave him alone! He tried to Jump her to the Grand Canyon despite her protests and found she just stepped back into the Jump scar before it faded and followed him back. He did this several times, in fact, all with the same results.

Frustration had increased his hunger; he was already hungry from the battle that had originally led him in desperation to Anna's room. He wasn't even sure how _that _happened, let alone the fact of Anna's arrival. To clear his head for a few minutes and maybe to shut her up with some food, he had Jumped to China.

"Hey," Her voice held a somewhat serious tone as she gazed at him levelly then continued, "Could I, perhaps, um, borrow some clothes? Not really dressed for the occasion you see," she glanced at her pajamas again then gazed longingly at the door, which was locked when she had tried to open it earlier while he was gone, that she thought held his clothes.

"What does this look like, a hotel? You can't have _my _clothes. I just got you food, isn't that enough?" His aggravated look increased when she shivered a little, rubbing her arms. This place was pretty cool, and she didn't get cold easily. And she _may _have exaggerated a tad…

With an irritated sigh, he Jumped to his room: a busted bed, more papers, boxes, a faded yellow lamp, and a small dresser containing his changes of attire. It was only a little bit bigger then a walk in closet. He snatched up the smallest pair of jeans he had, faded, ripped at the bottom from a near-fatal experience with a Paladin, than grabbed a black t-shirt and a belt he never wore.

She had thrown the shirt on immediately over her shirt then waited for him to leave to put on the pants. Both were too big, but they were clothes and comfortable so she didn't care, using the belt on the pants and a hair tie kept on her wrist to tie the shirt back.

They had eaten, not really talking, Griffin expertly with his chopsticks, Ari a little more slowly. She didn't eat Chinese food that often and as a result she didn't have as much experience; she still owned her brothers at it though.

"You said you wouldn't leave because you didn't want to travel, right?" Griffin said when he finished as a piece of chicken slipped from Ari's chopsticks, to her irritation, and she picked it up again as she nodded. "Then I'll just take you back myself." He told her forcefully. That way she'd be gone so he could plan his counterattack…

"I'll follow you back if you dump me at the Grand Canyon. Haven't you learned that yet?" Ari looked at him carefully, he'd been nice so far...okay, he'd been acceptable so far, but you never know… She felt a bit terrible with a side of guilt, forcing herself into staying with him, but she had a bad feeling about going home. Something just not right.

"So I'll get you a ride back to Phoenix." Griffin shrugged. _Anything_ to get her off of his back; the less time she spent with him the better.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Alright! Got a review: so I decided to post the last of my pre-written-four-years-ago chapters. Special shout out to **bayumlikedayum**, whose review definitely put a smile on my face. (And I love the screen name, by the way.)

I had never finished this chapter way back when I started, so I composed an ending to it a few days ago. Not sure if I managed to keep the same voice I had 4 years ago, but hey. Can you spot the transition?

Haha, that being said, who knows when the next update shall come? Slipping into my old tone of voice (it's not that different, to be honest. A little more mellow now, perhaps) might prove a challenge I am willing to conquer.

Enough blathering, on with the show!

* * *

Griffin did not abandon Ari on the trip back to her house the next day. (She had slept on the old couch.) They caught a bus; Griffin paid, of course. Also, the one time he did try to leave- "I'm going to the bathroom" she had looked up and narrowed her eyes and he chose not to even try to Jump. She'd Pursue him in a flash. That's what she began to call her Jumping, since it appeared she could not Jump herself. She could only Pursue through other Jumper's Jump scars.

After what seemed like centuries they arrived to the target city and they got in a taxi for the rest of the ride to her home. Nothing happened, everything was normal. A very mundane sort of adventure, Ari thought as she stole a glance at Griffin after getting into the house. (To her embarrassment, the backdoor had been left unlocked from when she had taken out the garbage.)

"I'll wash your clothes. You can come by later to pick 'em up," she told him as he gazed around her living room. She almost thought he'd refuse, then without another word he was gone. Ari sighed, and went upstairs to do the laundry, take a shower, and change her clothes.

She had opted for a comfortable stretchy form-fitting tee with her tan cargo capris, putting her cell- 2 missed text messages- into her pocket, and putting her wallet in the other. That felt so much more natural, her phone and wallet actually being on her person. She tried halfhearted to straighten up her room, and failed miserably. How was she going to explain this to her parents? 'Oh yeah, Mom, this teleporter guy, calls himself a Jumper, the pressure from his Jump, it ruined my room. Totally exploded. Then I found out I could Pursue him, then spent the night in his Lair. Did I mention he was a young adult male?' Mm-hmm, that would work like a charm.

The doorbell rang, and with a helpless look around her cluttered, busted room, she made her way downstairs, past the tan walls to look through the peep hole of the front door directly in front of the stairs. A guy in a suit stood there, hair greased to the side, a severe strictness to be seen just from his posture. Leaving the top latch on, she opened the door cautiously. "Yes?"

"Arianna Hazel Jones?" He addressed her and went on after she nodded. "I'm an official, might I come in?" It was not a question, it was an order. And after he actually showed his badge- she inspected it and everything- she had no choice but to let him in. "You can call me Mr. Stillman. I'm here regarding a strange business. Does the name Griffin O'Connel mean anything to you?"

Well, duh, it meant something to her! But she kept her face neutral as she denied it completely. This guy was bad news, she could tell. Stillman closed the door behind them, leaving them alone on the carpet by the front door. Her neutrality changed abruptly when he pulled a gun from the jacket of his suit, cleaning it intently with a cloth from the same pocket. Ari swallowed apprehensively. Oh, crap, what had she gotten herself into?

"Do not lie to me, I have several key witnesses' watch you appear and disappear in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon several times. But I could forget all of that if you make the right choice on this proposition I'm about to make to you."

"I'm listening," she tore her eyes from the gun to look at the man's face. She was stalling for time; she needed to make an escape plan. Running was not an option; she would get shot for sure…Where had Griffin Jumped earlier? It had been about thirty, forty-five minutes; the scar will probably not be around…It was worth a shot though. "Come…come into the kitchen, where we can sit down," she tried, that was where they were wasn't it? Or was he in the family room while she was in the kitchen locking the back door?

"I'm sure here is just fine, Miss Jones." He stared at her icily suspecting she was up to something. Okay, she thought, that plan was shot. "Straight to the point, then. I want you to work for me." She gaped at him before closing her mouth quickly. From the pictures and papers Griffin left about his Lair, she could tell men were not only after him to kill, he was after them.

"And why would I do that? _And _what would I even do?" Ari did not, in any way, shape, or form, want to work for this guy. The buzzer for the dryer went off but the two stiff people downstairs ignored it. In the back of Ari's head, a small connection was made, 'his clothes…' but she didn't dwell on it. She had other problems.

"I've noticed your uncanny ability to travel through the Jump scars left behind and I want to harness that for my own gain. You could travel everywhere they do, alert me, and I could…take out the trash, so to speak."

Ari looked at him disgustedly. What a horrible, despicable man. There was no way in _hell _she would ever even consider the idea of working for a slime ball like him. But that didn't help her now. "And how would I contact you?" she asked, fiddling with a loose seam on her shirt, trying to play along. He had to think she was considering his proposition or else… She didn't want to think about the consequences. (A thought floated through her head anyway. Iron Maidens weren't used anymore, right?)

He held up a phone he had retrieved from the inside of his jacket. Giving her a smile coated in oil, he sneered, "You do know how to use a phone, don't you?" His condescending tone did nothing for Ari's temper and she didn't bother hiding her responding glare from him. "And people say _children_ are good with technology these days?" Stillman continued, clearly enjoying his superiority.

"But what if—…" Ari started, before swiftly being cut off.

"Stop this stalling at once, Miss Jones." Stillman's voice cracked like a whip, effectively slicing any of Ari's responses instantly. "I am not some village idiot. And there is no point in denying the inevitable. You either are working for me, or you cease to be of any use to me. And I do not keep unneeded objects when they can be _thrown. away._"

Ari H. Jones took a step back unintentionally, her stomach tensed with fear. She was sure she was a sight to see at this moment. Brunette hair, darker than normal from being damp, already beginning to curl slightly. Pale skin from lack of any real outdoor activities, eyes akin to saucers when she realized just how deep she seemed to be in. And a bit vainly she wondered, was she going to die looking like this? Were the coroners going to tsk, and shake their heads once they saw her? Couldn't she have at _least_ straightened her hair for once? She shook her head, as though trying to physically remove these thoughts from her head. Automatically Ari internally scolded herself for being such a girl. At this point her back had pressed against the railing of the stairs behind her.

"Miss Jones," Her name uttered by that creepazoid held so much. A promise, a threat; they seemed to have bled into the same thing. It was accompanied by a cold smile, as though he had hoped she would decline his offer. Make my day, that smile seemed to say. And Ari was running out of options. She wasn't known for strategy, let alone thinking of escape routes on the fly.

That was when her mind was made up. She straightened her back, and opened her mouth to give an answer. But it was shut again almost immediately with an audible snap when a voice tore through the tense silence of her house.

"Anna! Where are my damn clothes?"


End file.
